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Camber Castle

Taken from what would, in the 16th century, have been the view from the sea. This part was once a shingle bank and in 1514 Sir Edward Guldeford built a small tower to protect the anchorage known then as Le Cambre. When Spain and France combined to go to war with Henry VIII in the 1530s the King undertook a fort building programme to protect vulnerable areas of the south coast. The result was to upgrade Guldeford's tower with a series of outer fortifications which was completed in 1544 and garrisoned with 42 men. However, the castle's life was limited by the receding sealine and was abandoned in 1637. Today it is over a mile from the sea and surrounded only by sheep though it does remain a good example of an unaltered Henrician defensive fort.